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Baseball notebook

Bonds, Clemens, Sosa on ballot for Hall

Steroid allegations could sway voters against them

Request to buy this photoFrom left: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa are on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Steroid allegations have hurt Mark McGwire, left, and Rafael Palmeiro in Hall of Fame voting.

Request to buy this photoFrom left: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa are on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

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Thursday November 29, 2012 7:19 AM

The most polarizing Hall of Fame debate since Pete Rose will now be decided by the baseball
shrine’s voters: Do Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa belong in Cooperstown despite steroid
allegations that tainted their numbers?

In a monthlong election sure to become a referendum on the steroids era, the Hall ballot was
released yesterday, and Bonds, Clemens and Sosa are on it for the first time.

Bonds is the career home run champion with 762 and won a record seven MVP awards. Clemens won a
record seven Cy Young awards and is ninth with 354 career victories. Sosa ranks eighth in career
home runs with 609.

Yet for all their homers, RBI and victories, the shadow of performance-enhancing drugs looms
large.

“You could see for years that this particular ballot was going to be controversial and divisive
to an unprecedented extent,” Larry Stone of
The Seattle Times wrote in an email. “My hope is that some clarity begins to emerge over
the Hall of Fame status of those linked to performance-enhancing drugs. But I doubt it.”

More than 600 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will vote on the 37-player
ballot. Candidates require 75 percent for induction, and the results will be announced on Jan.
9.

Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza and Curt Schilling also are among the 24 players eligible for the
first time. Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines are the top holdover candidates.

If recent history is any indication, the odds are stacked against Bonds, Clemens and Sosa. Mark
McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro had Cooperstown-caliber statistics, too, but steroid clouds cost them
in Hall voting.

Some who favor Bonds and Clemens claim the bulk of their accomplishments came before baseball
got wrapped up in drug scandals. They add that performance-enhancing drug use was so prevalent in
the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s that it’s unfair to exclude anyone because so many
who-did-and-who-didn’t questions remain.

Many fans on the other side say drug cheats — suspected or otherwise — should never be afforded
the game’s highest individual honor.

The BBWAA election rules allow voters to pick up to 10 candidates. As for criteria, this is the
only instruction: “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity,
sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

Clemens was acquitted this summer in federal court on six counts that he lied and obstructed
Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds was found guilty in 2011 by a federal court jury on one count of obstruction of justice,
ruling he gave an evasive answer in 2003 to a grand jury looking into the distribution of illegal
steroids. Bonds is appealing the verdict.

McGwire is 10th on the career home run list with 583 but has never received even 24 percent of
the vote in his six Hall tries. McGwire has admitted to using steroids and human-growth
hormone.

Indians’ designate Rafael Perez for assignment

Perez, who will become a free agent, fought shoulder problems this season and had surgery in
September. He pitched in just eight games for the Indians in 2012, none after April. He had pitched
in 70 or more games in three of the previous four seasons.

Perez has a career record of 21-12 with a 3.66 ERA.

Notable

Free-agent outfielder B.J. Upton has agreed to a five-year, $75.25 million deal with the Atlanta
Braves, ESPN.com reported.

The deal is dependent on Upton passing a physical.

Upton, 28, has played all eight of his major-league seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, and he hit
.246 with 28 home runs, 78 RBI and 31 stolen bases last season. • The head of the baseball players’
union said there have been talks with Major League Baseball about increasing the sport’s drug
testing program. • The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired first baseman Clint Robinson and right-hander
Vin Mazzaro from Kansas City for pitching prospects Luis Rico and Luis Santos. Pittsburgh also
obtained right-hander Zach Stewart from Boston for a player to be named.

• The Los Angeles Angels completed the signing of former Reds right-hander Ryan Madson to a
one-year, $3.5 million deal. Madson passed a physical, the
Los Angeles Times reported, and is projected to replace Ernesto Frieri as the Angels’
closer next season if he’s healthy.